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Old 01-05-13, 06:57 PM
  #2429  
rholland1951
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Twelfth day of Christmas, 41 degrees at noon, 25 miles through Arlington, Lexington, Bedford, Concord, and Lincoln. Rode the ice bike again, expecting to need it on the only-lately-plowed Bedford section of the Minuteman. Sure enough, that stretch was suitable to illustrate a Science Fair project on the phase diagram of water, featuring slush, packed snow, ice in several forms, liquid water, water vapor, and the occasional bit of dry pavement; pretty much everything but live steam. The Arlington and Lexington sections of the Minuteman were clear, with occasional incidental exceptions. After reaching Depot Park, kept riding, taking Railroad Avenue and McMahon Street to Concord Road, Bedford, continuing into Concord on Old Bedford Road. Paused to admire Concord's monument stone to local agriculture...

...continuing on Virginia Road, past the Thoreau birth-place (both of them)...

... on past the Hanscom runway, where helicopter flight school was apparently in session again. At the point where, in former days, Virginia Road would have gone straight into The Bloody Angle in what is now the Battle Road park...

... picked up Old Bedford Road (the Lincoln instance) and rolled down the hill to Hanscom Drive, turning left on N. Great Road (also known as Rt 2A), where I rode for a couple of blocks without getting squished before turning right onto Mill Street, picking up Lexington Rd, Lincoln/Lincoln Street, Lexington past the North end of the Cambridge Reservoir, which has iced over nicely.


Rode under the Rt 128 overpass by the old farm to Middle Street, picking up Marrett Road (also also known as Rt 2A), riding that past the Lexington Reservoir, where kids were skating.


Continued over rolling hills on Marrett Road to Mass. Ave., then hopped back on the Minuteman and rolled home, noting a hockey game in progress on Peepers Pond. I guess the cold earlier in the week made for useful ice.

It was a pleasure to get out on the roads again, even such well-known ones. I met numerous roadies once I left the Minuteman, many of whom were in cheerful, expansive moods, lots of greetings exchanged. Made me want to get back on the touring bike; today, it would have worked, had I been willing to detour around the Bedford segment of the Minuteman. We'll see what the Winter weather brings... In the meantime, I'm sitting in my kitchen, making chicken soup.

rod
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